How drones can help save dolphins

If commercial fishing operators know that they will face hefty punishment for catching or killing sea mammals, it is in their interest to take all practical steps to avoid doing so. They could send their specially equipped drones over an area of the sea and identify where pockets of dolphins, whales or other marine mammals are. If the mammals are present, they can move on to another area.

Other applications for this technology might include: marine researchers gaining insights into the migration patterns of marine mammals or assisting oil or gas exploration in detecting the presence of mammals when they do seismic testing or pile driving.

The complete system is relatively affordable compared to other survey methods with the full system, including drone, thermal camera system and monitor costing around $3200 USD.